Word Wall Super Heroes Bring Words to Life

Word Wall Super Heroes make the words on your word walls come to life for students as they create characters to fight evil doers. Kids of all ages are attracted to the idea of super heroes,
and this activity is suitable for any word wall in any subject or grade level.
It involves the use of language and art and exercises creativity, writing, and
reading skills.

Learning is about language, whether it be the language of
math or sight word vocabulary, and word walls are by far the best activity I know to help
children learn vocabulary of any kind. The more they read, use, and interact
with the words, the more likely it is that the words will become part of their
consciousness.

Children should be given an opportunity ahead of time to
think about and plan for this assignment. Take some time a few days beforehand
to talk with students about superheroes and ask them to name some of their
favorites. Make a list together of the attributes and characteristics of a
super hero.

Explain to students that they are going to create their own
super heroes whose names must include words from the word wall. Each super hero
will need to have at least one super power and a specialized vehicle.
There must be a sidekick and an arch enemy, too, whose names must also be
derived from words on the wall.

Since instruction in all subject areas should support
reading, this is a wonderful opportunity to reinforce the concepts of character
traits, conflict, antagonists, etc.

Because
of the violence to which students are accustomed to seeing on
television and in video games, they often want to include similar images, particularly when they draw Word Wall Super
Heroes in combat with their arch enemies.

It is important to emphasize that the goal of these Super Heroes is to capture their arch enemies and turn them into good people who will help make the world a better place.

I do NOT accept guns, blood, or violence of any kind in any art projects.

Implementation

When students have had a few days to discuss and plan their
projects, finding the time to help them get started is the next step. Time
after tests is generally a good time to begin art projects, and my students
then finish them on their own time. I create and distribute a simple rubric before the test to guide them in completing each project and to let them know the expectations for each assignment.

The rubric for Word Wall Super Heroes places most of the emphasis on the narrative students will write to accompany their art work. It is important because it is here that they will introduce the hero, sidekick, arch enemy, and their super powers.

The biggest challenge for me is to refrain from giving suggestions
or showing them examples. Doing this, I have found, narrows their creative field
so I fight the urge to do so, even though I have some terrific examples of the
project, as you can see, featuring Reflecto Girl who confuses her enemy by
reflecting her image so it looks like there are two of her and Multiplication
Man who is able to multiply himself in order to be in many places at one time.

The Early Years

Teacher Talk

Reflecto Girl and Kilo Man

My word wall superhero is Reflecto Girl. Her sidekick is
Kilo Man, and their arch enemy is Count Sphera. Reflecto Girl’s super power is
reflecting her image so it looks like there are two of her, therefore
distracting the enemy. Her sidekick Kilo Man’s super power is that he can
stretch himself. He stretches himself so he can be hundreds of meters tall or
wide. This helps him block the enemy from getting away.

More about Reflecto Girl is she can also be fast so she can
reflect herself from one place to another. Their arch enemy Count Sphera has an
unusual power. He can turn into a sphere shape or ball. Doing this, he can roll
around and bounce where these actions can make him a purple and blue blur going
downhill.

Their super vehicle comes in handy. It may look small on the
outside, but it is actually much bigger on the inside. There are places inside
for their tools, outfits, and other important things. They call their vehicle
the RK Superspeed Car.

Multiplication ManandDivision Dude

Multiplication Man is a superhero who has the ability to
multiply himself so that he can be many places at one time, doing much good. He
can throw multiplication throwing stars which are equivalent to Batman’s
Bat-a-rangs. He has a sidekick called Division Dude who can divide himself into
smaller people. This is great when size is an issue.

Multiplication Man and Division Dude drive around in the
Multiplication Mobile. This vehicle can multiply its speed by up to 10 times if
needed. For example, if he is going 60 mph, he can multiply by 2 and go 120
mph. It has a cockpit for Multiplication Man and a cute little side car for
Division Dude.